Larry Treadwell
September 2023 - Magic City Causeway
About the Image(s)
Nikon D850, 24-70mm lens, ISO 500, f13, 62 seconds. Tripod cable release
This image was taken from Million Dollar Pier (where the multimillion dollar private yachts tie up under heavy security.)
The Magic City is the time worn nickname for the City of Miami. The heart of the city is to the right and behind me. The channel spanned by the Causeway Bridge is the Port of Miami with Miami Beach on the right end of the Causeway. This area is NOT open to the public. I was sitting on the sea wall. Due to the presence of scattered clouds I wanted to keep some shape to the clouds and I really wanted to get some of the city lights to be reflected on the drifting clouds. I also wanted to capture the ⬓magical⬠colors of the city lights reflected in the water.
This image is 7 frames shot with the camera in portrait position with an over lap of about 20%. There was almost no wind. I took several (maybe 6-7) test shots with the camera in manual and made exposure adjustments after each shot. When I was satisfied with the exposure I started the pano capture from the right side (with the biggest clouds) and shot the seven frames. I then took a blank shot (lens covered with my hat) and took the pano again, moving left to right. With seven shots each pano took nearly 8 minutes to complete. So a considerable amount of time was required to make this capture (setup, testing, capture and take down about 45 minutes)
All post work was done in Lightroom starting with editing one image (mostly highlights and shadows) then syncing the series. After the pano was assembled I use noise reduction on the sky and increased vibrance and some saturation to get the colors to pop for the ⬓magic city⬠theatrical style impact.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
8 comments posted
Need to calm things down as I'm getting older. :-) Posted: 09/06/2023 12:21:55
I follow the same process of shooting vertical with a 20% overlap and pan in one direction. Why did you switch directions and pan from the other side? I sometimes do this on my iPhone but not in my camera. Did you use all 14 frames for the pano? Also, what ratio do you try to maintain when doing panos? Posted: 09/11/2023 18:49:06
I was working against a clock because I had to get out due to the security guard. I started from the right because those were the clouds I was working on for my test shots so I just continued and went right to left. I wanted a second set in case the first did not come out and since I was on the let side, I just took a black frame and then did the set from left to right since I was already on that side. The finished pano was just 7 shots.
Maybe I should be concerned about ratio but in this case I was not I knew what I wanted for a starting point and then just finished the bridge. After they were stitched then I cropped to get the best looking shot.
I do not get hung up on certain sizes unless a client what a set side. I crop to make the image look like I want and then if it is to be frames I use a custom frame
Posted: 09/11/2023 20:22:31
Several years ago I did a shot of the Milky Way in the everglades. The shot was 12 frames taken in two rows of 6 shots. I did six horizontal frames of the sky moving from left to right and than tilted the camera a bit lower and took six more shots of the water moving from right to left. It took forever to process but I stitched them all in Lightroom and it came out just fine.
The only advice I can offer to another photographer is let your imagination run. Push your photo gear to its limits and try things. Everything will not work, but you learn from mistakes. If you can dream it,you can make it happen. Posted: 09/17/2023 11:59:22